Death In A Spray Can

February 20, 1992|By Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register.

Invisible. Virtually odorless. Bland yet intoxicating. The breath of death. It comes in bursts from trigger-shaped nozzles raised to the nostrils of teenagers looking for a cheap high. The source: ``air dusters``-cans of pressurized gas used to blow dust from computer circuits, camera lenses and stereos. Some teens think they are simply sniffing canned air. They couldn`t be more wrong. The dusters often contain chemical solvents and usually contain a form of Freon, which can deliver a heart-stopping high.

In Placentia, Calif., police hoping to quash what teens describe as a rising trend are issuing a bulletin to law enforcement agencies and schools.

However, police are unsure whether they can arrest anyone who is caught sniffing dusters. Unlike glue and paint, it is unclear whether the chemicals in the cleaner are forbidden by the penal code for use as inhalants.

``I recommend we arrest them, go to court and find out,`` Placentia Sgt. David Taylor said. ``Obviously, it hasn`t been done, but I`m willing to give it a try.``

The legal dilemma is new, but sniffing pressurized dusters is simply another twist on an old theme. Drug abusers have long inhaled the intoxicating and sometimes fragrant fumes of chemicals in industrial and household products.

``They`re looking for a legal way to get high. What a lot of kids just don`t realize is you can die literally without warning,`` said Rose Ann Soloway, educational coordinator for the National Capital Poison Center at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington.

Inhalant abuse killed at least 20 people nationwide in 1990, the latest year for which statistics from the American Association of Poison Control Centers are available.

Sudden death is one of the extreme dangers associated with chlorodifluoromethane, or Freon-12, typically used as a refrigerant and a propellant in pressurized computer dusters. The liquefied gas is altered to prevent it from eating a hole through the Earth`s protective ozone layer.

It has no intoxicating properties of its own, but it starves the brain of oxygen, causing giddiness and dizziness, Soloway said. Sometimes, like many inhalants, it can cause a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. It disrupts the heart`s rhythmic beat, making the muscle quiver, then stop altogether.

Sudden death.

``A typical scenario: All of a sudden (the youth) lets out a cry, takes off like a shot, runs the length of a football field and suddenly falls down. Dead,`` Soloway said.

Nevertheless, many teenagers say it`s the latest type of drug abuse among the young and hip.

``It`s the new high,`` said Mike Castro, 17, of Placentia. ``Orange County, L.A., everywhere. It`s like the `in` thing now.``

Several law enforcement agencies and a national poison center have heard little, if anything, about the practice. But Castro and others say it is a popular attraction at underground flier parties.

Castro stopped indulging after seeing someone vomit blood.

More horrifying stories from the world of inhalants:

- A 14-year-old boy suffered a fatal heart attack in 1990 after sniffing fabric protector sprayed onto a shirt. The product contained trichloroethane. - Paramedics called in 1989 to help a 9-year-old boy in cardiac arrest found a tube from a Freon tank in his mouth.

- In Orange County, Calif., two non-fatal reports of youths inhaling computer dusters were logged within the past two months at University of California-Irvine Regional Poison Center.

One indication of the duster`s popularity is a police report that a group of teenagers tried to buy two cases-24 cans-of Dust-Away Gold from a discount store. The price: $120.

Users, neighborhood teenagers say, typically take up a collection in the morning to buy supplies for the day. That usually amounts to 10 to 20 cans, each concealed within the inside pockets of bulky jackets.